| Director | K. Balachander |
|---|
Aiyampettai Arivudainambi Kaliyaperumal Chandran is a graduate in search of his first job. He and his sister Uma have no relatives or acquaintances except their doctor/family friend. The doctor advises him to attend an interview for a job at his friend Sriramachandramurthy's import-export company. Sriramachandramurthy is a man of traditional values. He is a sports fan but thinks lowly of youngsters involved in sports. He believes that men without moustaches are characterless.
Chandran has a moustache; the doctor advises Chandran to take care of the other problems by acting in a manner Sriramachandramurthy appreciates: namely wearing a Nehru jacket for a usual dress given the poverty in the country, always telling his name in full, giving importance to his moustache, behaving decently, showing a lack of interest in sports and drama considering that they do not promote any wellbeing to the home or the country, respecting one's parents, and detesting the concept of having someone else recommend a person for jobs instead of recommending for oneself. He impresses Sriramachandramurthy who hires him immediately.
One day, Chandran and his friends decide to attend a football match and he wants to take leave by lying to their respective bosses. The next day, he gets a call in his office which his boss picks up, wherein he is informed that Chandran's mother, (who actually died many years ago, has fallen ill) instead of the lie that was planned to tell to his boss. Despite realising that his friend messed up, he goes to watch the football match. Sriramachandramurthy, who attends the match as well, sees him there. The next day, Sriramachandramurthy queries Chandran about what he witnessed. To escape from the ire of his boss and being fired from his first job, he decides to lie. Remembering the plot of a film his friend, actor Nagesh is shooting, Chandran convinces Sriramachandramurthy that he had seen his moustache-less identical twin Indran at the stadium. Sriramachandramurthy buys his argument and feels bad about accusing him. He makes amends by hiring "Indran" to teach his daughter Sarojini music.
Chandran is forced to lead a dual life: as a sincere hardworking employee under his real name, and as Sarojini's music teacher Indran; subsequently, Sarojini and "Indran" fall in love. A boy named Kattabomman who works at Sriramachandramurthy's house knows about Chandran's secret and blackmails him regularly. Sriramachandramurthy later asks Chandran to meet his mother. Chandran, with Nagesh's help, requests a wealthy socialite, Meenakshi Duraiswamy, to pose as Chandran's widowed mother. Chandran ultimately tells Sarojini the truth. Sarojini's friend tells him to tell Sriramachandramurthy as well, but he is reluctant to do so. Chandran goes to Sriramachandramurthy with Sarojini, but when Chandran refuses to give Kattabomman , Kattabomman tells Sriramachandramurthy about Chandran's false moustache, giving away the secret. Sriramachandramurthy however ends up thinking that Indran impersonated Chandran to marry Sarojini. He then chases Chandran, whom he thinks is Indran, across the city via car to kill him. Due to his rash driving, he seemingly cripples Uma during the chase.
Sriramachandramurthy is sued by lawyer Charuhasan on Chandran's behalf for injuring Uma. Sriramachandramurthy is, for the most part, scared during the lawyer's monologue, but eventually realises that he is being fooled again — this time by Charuhasan, who is actually an actor hired by Chandran, while Uma was not actually crippled in the chase. At this point, all the main characters approach Sriramachandramurthy and tell him the truth. A visibly confused and shaken Sriramachandramurthy locks himself in a room, and comes out with his moustache shaved off, feeling that he does not need something which caused so much trouble. Sriramachandramurthy then laments to a picture of Muruga about his foolishness. As he does so, the picture of Muruga changes into that of Ganesha; the voice of Ganesha apologises to him as he was also involved in fooling him.